Earth

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As writers go, I suppose I’m known as a bit of an optimist, so it seems only natural that this novel projects s future where there’s little more wisdom than folly… maybe a bit more hope than despair.

In fact, it’s about the most encouraging tomorrow I can imagine right now.

What a sobering thought.

First came a supernova, dazzling the universe in brief, spendthrift glory before ebbing into twisty, multispectral clouds of new-forged atoms. Swirling eddies spiraled until one of them ignited — a newborn star.

The virgin sun wore whirling skirts of dust and electricity. Gas and rocks and bits of this and that fell into those pleats, gathering in dim lumps… planets…

One tiny worldlet circled at a middle distance. It had a modest set of properties:

mass — barely enough to draw in a passing asteroid or two;

moons — one, the remnant of a savage collision, but big enough to tug deep tides;

spin — to set winds churning through a fuming atmosphere;

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